Apart form its current publications, John Blake Publishing has a sizeable back list of acclaimed sporting titles. These include biographies of stars such as Roger Federer, WG Grace, Fernando Torres and Frankie Dettori. For more information, visit www.blake.co.uk

We have a copy of GLOVE STORY to give away.
To win this prize, simply answer the following question:
For which team did Gordon Banks make his Football League debut?
Send your answer to comps@sportsbookofthemonth.com no later than 5th December 2017
(read review)

There’s still an air of menace about Graeme Souness, a characteristic which ensures that television pundits espousing an alternative opinion to the Scot tend to remain quiet when he speaks, not least because he can be relied upon to talk sense.
On TV, Graeme Souness comes across as a thoughtful, experienced man who knows the football industry inside out; the excellent Football: My Life, My Passion reinforces this view.
(read review)

From Orient to the Emirates tells the tale of Burnley’s inspirational, never-say-die recovery from the cusp of oblivion (a final match of the 1986-87 season against Orient) to once more competing against the top flight’s big guns.
To call the intervening 30-year journey a ‘roller-coaster’ is an understatement, but to convey what it has meant to those associated with, or supporting the Clarets, author Tim Quelch mixes his story with an abundance of comments from fans, players, newspaper reports and other contemporaneous accounts. It’s an uplifting formula tracing the period from Burnley’s unlikely survival to their renaissance and status as many folks’ favourite ‘other’ team.
(read review)

There was a time when football clubs were owned by a local businessman, usually one who had made his money by building and developing a nearby enterprise which generally employed large numbers of local people. (read review)

James Gardner was taken to his first Fulham game at the age of seven and fell in love. That love has clearly deepened over the intervening half century as this first full-length biography of a man who was not only an outstanding footballer but the first Englishman to earn £100 a week shows.
(read review)

If you believe that top-flight professional football has steadily distanced itself from the ‘ordinary fan’ (it was never particularly close in 1992) over the past 25 years, then this is the celebratory page-turner for you. (read review)

“No schoolboy was ever captivated by net spends and transfer windows,” says the book’s cover; it seems that fewer and fewer of us old ‘uns are either, which is why We Are Sunday League is such a breath of fresh footballing air.
(read review)

Voted number two in our list of 2017's sports books. You can discover our top ten (numbers 1-5 are above, in the 'Redemption' review section), while numbers 6 -10 are below, followed by our review of the Fall of the House of FIFA. Click on "read review".
You can win all ten books for Christmas! See our quiz question above.
(read review)

We have a copy of THE LOVE OF THE GAME to give away.
To win this prize, simply answer the following question:
Who won Great Britain’s first swimming gold at the 2016 Olympic Games?
Send your answer to comps@sportsbookofthemonth.com no later than 28TH June 2017
(read review)

Béla Guttmann could justifiably be called football’s first ‘super coach’, a man acutely aware of his own worth, but the tactical abilities which saw him employed by more than twenty clubs during a career that stretched well into his sixties, was only part of his incredible story.
His willingness to travel in order to further his football career earned him the nickname “Wandering Jew” (too rarely used in jest), yet his Jewishness is integral to this remarkable and well-researched tale.
(read review)

No British football manager has lifted three European Cups, yet it’s fair to say that Bob Paisley, who did so at Liverpool, has never received the praise he deserved. He never complained, but just got on with his job, nurturing and recruiting outstanding footballers, almost all of whom were leaders and ensuring they played simple football. “Play the way you’re facing,” was a standard Paisley refrain, an effective tactic that often produced scintillating football and remarkable success. (read review)

Most readers will have experienced unwarranted or unreasonable behaviour, or even downright dishonesty at work. And so it is with football, yet because it’s our national sport, we take greater interest in its murky machinations and unfairness.
No Hunger In Paradise is Calvin’s beautifully-crafted take on football’s aspirations and the dreams of those seeking to make the big time.
(read review)

Carlo Ancelotti’s Quiet Leadership is one of the very best books on football management ever written. His style has never been described as tyrannical or demonstrative; nor is he an advocate of what might be called the ‘drama queen approach’ to managing a football team. (read review)

Very few people, especially footballers, warrant an obituary in The Economist, the high-brow weekly founded in 1843. Presidents, Prime Ministers and seriously rich entrepreneurs tend to be the folks about whom The Economist writes once they’ve died, but in 2011, Brazil’s former midfielder and captain, the outrageously skilled Socrates, justified his inclusion on several fronts as Andrew Downie’s excellent biography confirms. (read review)

What keeps us coming back to play five-a-side? Dressing room banter; a prolonged moan about an injury incurred the previous week; playing ‘up front’ (a joy for perennial defenders); the prospect of a few pints afterwards, or perhaps lashing in a goal from four yards? (read review)

A large number of readers are likely to be emerging from a dry January fully intent on enjoying themselves again, in which case obtaining a copy of David Squires’ Illustrated History of Football will complement their rediscovered bonhomie.
Squires has produced a lively, tongue-in-cheek history of the beautiful game, accompanied by some excellent illustrations.
(read review)

On several occasions during the current football season, Sky Sports’ comparable Premier League viewing figures have been down by 20 percent, while BT’s Champions League audience has plummeted by up to 40 percent.
This is hardly a surprise, given that the Champions League magic evaporated years ago when a contrived group stage format was introduced to ensure a comfortable passage to the knock-out stages for the same ‘big’ clubs every season. As for the Premier League, well, only three or four teams can realistically win it. Leicester City was a ‘Black Swan’ event.
(read review)

Cristiano Ronaldo’s timing on the football pitch has always been impeccable. As we planned to review his latest biography this week in anticipation of him winning the Ballon D’Or award, it appears that his timing away from the pitch is pretty decent too after he pipped Lionel Messi to collect the accolade of the world’s best footballer for the fourth time.
(read review)

It probably began a few years ago when the dome-headed (and extremely good) referee, Italian Pierluigi Collina, was amongst the first to be instantly recognisable. Whether he set out to do this is a matter of conjecture, but recently, we’ve seen Premier League referees such as Mark Clattenburg and Michael Oliver differentiate themselves from their peers, knowingly or otherwise. It’s difficult to imagine Howard Webb being so ostentatious.
(read review)

Despite its chapter on football’s history, The Football Ramble, a spin-off from the podcast of the same name, suffers from a bias which favours discussion regarding more recent events, players and managers. With a little more digging, we could have been spared the thankfully short section on Pep v José and perhaps compared Sir Matt Busby to Bob Paisley; Bill Nicholson to Brian Clough. (read review)

Saturday 3pm could have stretched to hundreds of pages; instead, it’s not much longer than a match day programme, but still sufficient to make us understand why we’ll never fall out of love with football.. (read review)

For a variety of reasons, most sports fans never get close to making it in one professional sport, yet Curtis Woodhouse reached the top in two. That he would go from playing football in England’s top flight (winning four England under-21 caps en route) to British light-welterweight boxing champion within 28 professional fights is a remarkable feat, one for which he has never received the recognition he deserved. (read review)

We live in an age when, thanks to websites such as YouTube, memories can be instantly recalled, a state of affairs which means that unless an incident was particularly special, we can soon reach memory overload, a videoed saturation point few of us wish to encounter.
(read review)

Meander away from the flimsy veneer of top-flight glamour and you discover less cynicism, greater enthusiasm amongst supporters who appreciate their club is unlikely to drop £50 million on a new striker and, joy of joys, indigenous footballers who have a chance of getting a game.
It is into this world that Dave Roberts, author of the wonderful 32 Programmes and long-term Bromley fan, takes the reader in his latest book.
(read review)

“Opinions are the lifeblood of the game, the self-perpetuating essence that has allowed 90 minutes of action on the weekend to dominate the news cycle seven days a week,” writes Duncan Alexander (aka OptaJoe) before taking us on an often engrossing journey littered with odd, peculiar, or plain brilliant statistics and numbers likely to have readers backing their opinions up with more than hunches.
(read review)

“No country loves [football’s] theories and myths more than Argentina,” writes Jonathan Wilson in his comprehensive, but immensely readable and wonderfully-researched history of a nation and its long-term love for the beautiful game. (read review)

When picking sides at school, the boys chosen to keep goal were almost always amongst the last to be selected. They remained against the wall usually because their peers considered them less competent footballers, though this wasn’t always the case.
(read review)

A brilliantly-written tribute to leadership - that of Sir Alf Ramsey - and the often ruthless manner with which he applied his vision to English football. Oh for some of Sir Alf's (and Sir Bobby's) magic... (read review)

Twenty years ago, comedy duo Baddiel and Skinner employed a catchy tune with singalong lyrics to remind success-starved England fans that it had been three decades since the national team lifted any silverware of note. (read review)

There have been a surprisingly large number of books written about Hillsborough and the preventable disaster that resulted in 96 Liverpool supporters losing their lives in April 1989, but few are as gut-wrenchingly well-written as And the Sun Shines Now.
The book opens with a compelling eye-witness account of the author’s brush with death at Hillsborough, a dramatic start-point to what could be described as a modern social history, with football at its core.
Post-Hillsborough, money flooded into the game as people you wouldn’t trust as far as you could throw them were allowed to acquire our most iconic football clubs, in contrast to the situation in Germany, where, as Tempany shows, fan ownership is more prevalent and matches significantly less expensive to attend.
(read review)

A disappointingly large number of promising teenage boys fail to break through into first team football at every club in the land, but according to Giggs himself and an impressive list of others who know something about football, including Sir Alex Ferguson and Gary Neville, Adrian Doherty was something very special indeed.
(read review)

Given that those of us sporting more grey hairs than we ever thought possible will have selective memories of the 1966 World Cup finals, it’s a surprise that no-one has thought to fill in the gaps by reminding us of what else was going on as just 16 nations competed for the World Cup trophy.
Author Ian Passingham, a journalist, has pieced together the equivalent of short newspaper reports to recreate the build-up and the tournament itself as though we were reading about events in real time.
(read review)

Mat Guy is much more interested in watching Bangor or Accrington Stanley than subjecting himself to made-for-TV displays of foreign mercenaries kissing their employers’ badge. Considering the author lives and works in Southampton, his dedication to exploring football’s unsung venues is impressive.
(read review)

Everyone loves a big FA Cup upset where David slays Goliath-and they don’t come any more shocking than on that May day in 1988 when the uncouth “long ball” upstarts from Wimbledon beat mighty Liverpool in the Wembley final. (read review)

“Leadership is accepting responsibility for being a leader,” says Sir Alex Ferguson about his new book, Leading, co-authored by a man who knows a thing or two about business success, Sir Michael Moritz.
It’s a fascinating read, not least because, rather controversially, the Scot maintains he only ever managed four truly world-class footballers: Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Eric Cantona.
(read review)

When tales of genuine footballing glory emerge, they provoke understandable interest because they offer fans an opportunity to remember what attracted them to the game in the first place.
Euan McTear has written such a tale about Sociedad Deportiva Eibar, a football club that hails from a tiny Basque town around one third the size of Camp Nou.
(read review)

Youngsters have collected football cards since the late nineteenth century when John Baines of Bradford invented them around 1885. They were probably even more popular then than the modern-day Panini versions, particularly as they sold in packets of six costing a halfpenny. Today, Baines’ cards sell for up to £80 each.
(read review)

Britain has much of which to be proud - not a phrase you hear too often nowadays – particularly when we consider how pivotal Britons were in first codifying and then introducing organised sport to the rest of the world. (read review)

You wouldn’t think you could teach the people running such a hugely cash-generative operation anything new, but in The Ugly Game, Martin Calladine makes a cogent, often entertaining case for football to look west and discover what it could become, one capable of handling money and fame without compromising open, fair competition.
(read review)

Everton fans, nurtured on outstandingly skilful Scots such as Alex Young, adored Ferguson’s aggressive manner and old-fashioned style which yielded 42 goals in 107 appearances during his first spell at the club.
(read review)

If, like millions of football fans, you believe the Champions League to be the most misnamed, contrived competition in sporting history, or are increasingly annoyed at the way in which ‘big’ clubs undermine the FA Cup by fielding their reserves and treat the League Cup as a youth competition, you should read Lee Price’s excellent Turning My Back on the Premier League.
(read review)

Published in paperback on 14th August, the latest Sky Sports Football Yearbook should, theoretically, be consigned to the dusty, inaccessible shelves of a museum, another victim of the internet’s galling omnipresence.
(read review)

Brazil, argues David Goldblatt, is not a distant temple dedicated solely to music and carnival, home to a form of “languid tropical hedonism” as portrayed in images of sun-drenched beaches and lilting palms. (read review)

Roy McFarland’s expression on the cover of his engaging autobiography has an uncompromising, ‘don’t-mess-with-me’ air about it, although as a player he never needed to threaten opponents. (read review)

Author Patrick Barclay paints vivid pictures of society and sport from a bygone era in this wonderful, thoroughly researched work, which demands a place on the bookshelves of discerning football lovers. (read review)

The authors of 'Got, Not Got'have built on their success and produced The Lost World of Football, a rare opportunity for greying supporters to remind themselves of why our national sport was once called ‘the beautiful game’.
(read review)

The Numbers Game, following in the tradition of Moneyball, published a decade ago, and Soccernomics, re-issued with updated material in 2012, attempts to take football analysis a stage further.
(read review)

To say he changed the face of English football in more than two decades at Old Trafford is an understatement of colossal proportions. Had he not been hired by Manchester United, it’s likely the club would have continued what appeared to be an inevitable decline and would probably be playing in the Championship today.
(read review)

We’ve reached a time of the year when publishers’ offices turn into frenetic places as firms become desperate to ensure their books are prominent during the industry’s busiest sales period.
More sports books are sold in December than any other month, so over the next two weeks, we’ve selected what we believe to be the year’s best of breed.
Football books do not feature quite as prominently as in earlier years, but perhaps the best is Sid Lowe’s Fear and Loathing in La Liga, a truly outstanding account of an intense football rivalry which exists between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
(read review)

Dozens of books have been written about Best, but this is the first ‘approved’ biography as his sister granted Hamilton access to what must have been a mountain of family material. The author deserves great credit, therefore, for writing not a sycophantic paean to Best, but an accomplished, well-researched account which doesn’t shy away from the footballer’s alcoholism and his propensity to be violent towards women. (read review)

When Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s ‘autobiography’ was published in Sweden, it sold more than 700,000 copies and was shortlisted for a prestigious literary award. Published here in paperback on 5th September and is best described as an ‘interesting’ read.
(read review)

Love him or loathe him, Sir Alex Ferguson succeeded in making his mark and not just domestically.
His departure may offer other clubs an opportunity to finally secure silverware that has eluded them for decades, but we will never see Sir Alex Ferguson’s like again. (read review)

Two recent publications highlight the stark difference between football as it used to be played and how it is today. Indeed, the game’s gradual decline over the period book-ended by each tome is a reflection of how society too has become more brutal and egocentric.
In the blue corner is I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a self-centred, narcissistic account of the Swedish footballer’s career – part of which, incredibly, is written in the third person – in which he revels in telling readers how amazing he was in such-and-such a match.
Contrast this with Jon Henderson’s The Wizard: The Life of Stanley Matthews, a marvellous biography which, while not avoiding several controversial episodes in Sir Stan’s life, also relishes his mazy runs, tenacity and humility, so evident in a career spanning 33 years. Perhaps someone should buy Ibrahimovic a copy for his no doubt XXXL-sized Christmas stocking
(read review)

Only a dozen men have ever represented England at football and cricket. Willie Watson was good enough to be a member of England's 1950 World Cup squad, but he was better known as a cricketer who scored 25,670 first class runs and 55 centuries... (read review)

James Leighton’s biography of Duncan Edwards should not be dismissed as being aimed solely at Manchester United supporters this Christmas. Irrespective of what club you support, this is an outstanding story of a truly brilliant player.
Thankfully, Leighton also dispels the notion that top-flight football was only invented in 1992.
“While I felt that players from the 1950s would struggle in the modern game,” he writes, “I realised it would probably be the other way around. How would today’s pampered, richly rewarded superstars react to two years National Service in the middle of their careers? Would they be happy to play for a few pounds a week? Would they look as quick and skilful after playing more than 90 matches a season, on poor pitches, with a heavy ball and ankle-high boots?” The answer, of course, is a resounding ‘no’.
(read review)

January has just about slipped by, the usual mixture of compromised new year resolutions, dawning financial reality (yes, that's your festive season credit card bill on the doormat) and an understandable reluctance to commit yourself fully to your role at Acme Umbrella Parts.
(read review)

The author considers how the goalkeeper's role has evolved over the past century. Given how pivotal the position is, it's a wonder that no-one has written so authoritatively and decisively about it before.
(read review)

All too often, authors fail to provide their readers with even a modicum of history, a back story upon which the rest of their work can be built. Thankfully, this frustrating trait is conspicuous by it's absence from Anthony Clavane's latest book, a fascinating, engaging tale of English football's 'forgotten tribe'. (read review)

Ian Seddon, who played for Bolton between 1969-73, eventually moving onto Chester and Cambridge before playing in Australia and Hong Kong, has written a particularly accomplished biography of former Bolton and England left back, Tommy Banks.
(read review)

There have been several very good Spanish football-related books written recently. Graham Hunter's Barca is a penetrating and convincing account of life at the Catalan club, while Jimmy Burns' La Roja was described as 'a wonderful blend of politics, history and sports journalism'. To these pair, add Richard Fitzpatrick's El Clasico, a marvellous tale of passion and unprecedented rivalry underpinned by politics and bloodshed. (read review)

The new season's bumper, 1,056 page edition of football's definitive reference book. Packed once again with an abundant enough supply of facts and statistics to satisfy the most ardent pub quiz question setter, the tome has become an integral feature of the new football season.
(read review)

This book's dust jacket sets the scene for what sounds like the tale of a particularly successful military group on home leave, a story, it exclaims, of "thousands of beers and 400 women".
(read review)

Another of our top five football books of the year for you to win as one amazing prize. But you've got to be in it to win it, so see how you can nab a fantastic Christmas prize by clicking on our competition section below. (read review)

There are few places on earth where the underdog is more admired than in Britain and nowhere is our appreciation more evident than in a sporting context.
We become enthused by the underdog's passion and determination when the odds are stacked against them, a sense which is perhaps closely associated with the fact that we hail from a small country which for centuries has consistently punched above its weight. (read review)

This is not the chronological meanderings of an ex-player who fancies making a few quid from a book. For a start, Hamann does not take himself too seriously, an attitude borne of a man who appreciates how he made his living (and possibly of his status as a self-confessed Anglophile), nor does he feel that just because he was a German international, footballing success was his by right.
(read review)

You can win all three of this week's books (Brian Clough, Vertigo & The Ghost Runner) in our fantastic Christmas sports book competition. To bag this terrific prize, simply answer the following question:
How many medals in total (gold, silver & bronze) did Great Britain win at the Beijing Olympic
Games in 2008?
Send your answers to comps@sportsbookofthemonth.com no later than midday on Christmas Eve. Good luck & Merry Christmas! (read review)

As we go to press, Spurs are 25/1 to be crowned Premier League champions next May, odds which, four months ago, were quoted in three figures. By harvesting Tottenham's not insubstantial resources, Harry Redknapp has created perhaps England's most attractive football team, but it could all be a bit much for John Crace, author of Vertigo, who is used to his Tottenham team stumbling well before the finishing line.
For four decades, Crace witnessed a succession of false dawns and broken promises at White Hart Lane that would test the loyalty of any fan, but infidelity was not an option. His love for Spurs was a constant. Then Harry arrived, Tottenham suddenly started playing like a top team and Crace's world was turned upside down. A very funny book capable of providing the perfect excuse for an exit when someone asks, "Shall we watch Sound of Music?".
(read review)

We have three copies of 'Who Are Ya?' to give away. To win one of these fantastic prizes, all you have to do is answer the following question: Which female singer originally sang Que Sera, Sera (as in 'Que sera, sera / whatever will be, will be / We're going to Wem-ber-lee / Que sera, sera.')?
Answers by email (no later than 11 November) to: comps@sportsbookofthemonth.com
(read review)

Denis Law, aka The King, one of a tiny band of British players to have been crowned European Footballer of the Year, is now in his seventieth year, though the image of him in full flow is burnished upon the consciousness of those of us lucky enough to have seen him play. (read review)

To win a copy of 'True Storey', simply answer the following question:
In what year did Arsenal win their first 'Double'?
Send your answers to: comps@sportsbookofthemonth.com no later than Friday 30 September 2011 (read review)

Football existed long before Rupert Murdoch pumped billions into the game's highest echelons, so creating ideal conditions ripe for breeding a raft of spivs, shysters, chancers as well as legitimate football club directors and agents.
Nonetheless, the idea of producing a book focusing on the emergence and development of a sporting phenomenon over its first two decades is, on paper, a fine one. (read review)

With Sir Alex calling it a day at Old Trafford, does this represent the beginning of the end for Manchester United? Patrick Barclay's outstanding biography provides us with a few hints... (read review)

There have been several yearbook impostors since Rollin's first volume appeared in 1971, but the Sky Sports version remains the genuine article.
Not one of the 1000+ pages is wasted, with every conceivable piece of statistical information, from the Champions League to details of the Zamaretto Southern League Premier Division included in a clear, readable format.
(read review)

Surely Roy Hodgson's latest bedtime reading?
Though originally published a few years' ago,(this is the paperback version we're promoting here), football fans should get a copy before Euro 2012 kicks off. It may help them understand why they're so depressed when England get knocked out. (read review)

I'm Not Really Here, a title taken from an old supporter's song when City languished in the lower divisions, is a completely different type of sporting autobiography which highlights the slender line between success and unfulfilled potential. (read review)

To win a signed copy of '32 Programmes' simply answer the following question:
Dave Roberts attended his first match in September 1964. Which team were crowned league champions at the end of that season?
Send your answers to comp@sportsbookofthemonth.com no later than Noon on 19 August 2011 (read review)

If the build up to the new season has you anxious, worried or concerned, remember: it's only a game. Fortunately, The Smell of Football reminds us that it's one full of laughs and shouldn't be taken too seriously. (read review)

AN EPIC SWINDLE is the inside story of how Liverpool FC came within hours of being re-possessed by the banks after the shambolic 44-month reign of American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. It is the tale of a civil war that dragged Britain's most successful football club to its knees, through the High Court and almost into administration.
Players Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher tell of their anger at the broken promises, as well as their pain at watching loyal fans in open revolt. Manager, chief executive, board members, leading fans and journalists reveal the turmoil at a revered sporting institution run by two men at war with each other, who trampled Liverpool's cherished traditions into the gutter.
No story sums up the naked greed at the heart of modern football quite like Hicks' and Gillett's attempt to turn a buck at Liverpool. No-one has had as much access to the truth, or tells it with as much passion, wit and insight as Brian Reade.
AN EPIC SWINDLE is the riveting story of how close one of the great football clubs came to financial implosion. (read review)

Don Revie and Brian Clough were born a brisk walk away from each other in Middlesbrough, in 1927 and 1935 respectively. They were brought up in a town ravaged by the Depression and went on to become highly successful professional footballers. Then, as young managers, they both took clubs languishing in the doldrums (Leeds United and Derby County) and moulded them into championship winners.
Despite the myriad similarities, these two sons of the Tees were as different in character as Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. A bitter rivalry developed between them, which in turn enlivened and then blighted English football in the 1960s and '70s.
In Clough and Revie, exclusive interviews with players, relatives and friends shed fresh light on these two intriguing characters. Part footballing chronicle, part social history, the book is a revelatory exploration of the rivalry between the two men. It brings a fresh perspective on their early years in the North-East, tells how they nearly became teammates and explains why the feud began and what its repercussions were. (read review)

The 2009 FIFA Player of the Year and European Footballer of the Year Lionel Messi is fast, elusive, mesmerising. Nominated by Maradona as successor to his No.10 Argentina shirt, he is already set for football divinity. At only 22 Messi is widely regarded as the planet's most naturally gifted player - a hero in Barcelona, Argentina's great hope for the 2010 World Cup and the envy of all other teams. He won the 2009 Ballon d'Or with 240 more votes than second-placed Cristiano Ronaldo - the highest-ever margin. Luca Caioli draws on numerous exclusive testimonies to tell Messi's story: his parents and extended family; his coaches at Grandoli and Newell's Old Boys; Rijkaard and Zambrotta from Barcelona; and, Jorge Valdano and many others from Argentina, Manchester City's Pablo Zabaleta and ex-Chelsea defender Asier del Horno. In the final chapter Messi himself sizes up his life so far. "Messi" is a brilliant, insightful and revealing portrait of football's most exciting player and a must-read for all true fans of the game. (read review)

Robbie Savage could have been just another Manchester United reject. Instead, he used the Old Trafford scrapheap as a springboard to become one of the most instantly recognisable footballers in the Premier League, despite being told by Sir Alex Ferguson he was not good enough to stay in the class of '92 alongside David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Gary Neville (read review)

You will see plenty of World Cup books on offer over the coming months, most of which will be heavy on statistics and match facts, but nothing will match Brian Glanville's marvellous Story of the World Cup. (read review)

Each of Fleming's stories provides uplifting examples of how an involvement with football can help people, be they brought down by drugs, alcohol, or even involvement with gang crime. What makes Eleven so inspiring is the way in which Fleming succeeds in showing the remarkable dedication of the people involved with the charitable organisations that endeavour to make a difference to people's lives. (read review)

We enjoy beating the Germans at anything, but especially at football. Perhaps because there have been so many instances of the Germans getting one over on us, particularly in the 1970 World Cup and again at Italia '90, that we revel in our successes, but as Raphael Honigstein tells us in Englischer Fussball, the feeling isn't necessarily reciprocated. (read review)

Mel Charles's In the Shadow of a Giant contains some marvellous anecdotes, but is essentially a wonderful tale of football in the fifties and sixties when leather lace-up balls could inflict serious damage on a centre half's head. (read review)

To celebrate John Motson's 40 years of commentating, we've managed to get hold of a special edition of his autobiography, published in 2009. To win this fantastic piece of memorabilia, just tell us who scored the Newcastle goal when Hereford beat them in 'that' FA Cup tie which made 'Motty's' name. Answers to comps@sportsbookofthemonth.com no later than 14th October 2011. Good luck. (read review)

Wigan chairman Dave Whelan, who has written an autobiography of the quality you would expect of a man who played in all four of England's professional divisions before becoming a multi-millionaire, has attracted his fair share of anecdotes. (read review)

At several points throughout this thought-provoking text, the reader is invariably left wondering what would happen today if the fit and able men of the Premier League were called upon to serve Queen and CountryÖ (read review)

In this very funny book, Stelling's provides readers with a unique guide to life behind the scenes and pulls no punches when it comes to telling is which former players perform well on screen and those who are a tad wooden. He doesn't do this in a nasty way (it is Jeff Stelling after all), but in a manner which suggests that the banter and bonhomie so evident on Soccer Saturday is absolutely genuine.
(read review)

Richard Sanders has enjoyed enormous success as a film-maker; his documentaries include Escobar's Own Goal about the murder of Andres Escobar, the Colombian footballer who met his untimely death after the 1994 World Cup, and Kicking the Habit, a rather critical look at Diego Maradona. Now he has turned his attention to the origins of British football and produced a thought-provoking read.
(read review)

The old joke about the football manager who believed tactics were a brand of mints might be apocryphal, but most football followers appreciate the skill involved in developing a method of play to suit eleven individuals. (read review)

Manchester City have long attracted opprobrium and sympathy in equal measure. For years, a considerable number of neutral fans, as well as their own supporters have desperately wanted to see them overhaul their celebrated near-neighbours, the self-styled 'biggest club in the world', yet sadly, one false dawn has simply given way to another. It's Manchester City's way: they rarely make things easy for themselves and every new beginning invariably ends in tears. (read review)

The tale of how this autobiography was conceived is perhaps indicative of Bowles' football career. Sharing a drink in their local pub, The Rose & Crown in Isleworth, Ralph Allen and John Iona, two good friends, were presented with the idea by the man himself. Late into the night, Stan said, "Hey, do you know, no-one's ever written about me." The trio stood, beers in hand, elbows resting unsteadily on the bar and considered why the former QPR, Bury, Manchester City, Leyton Orient, Nottingham Forest, Crewe and Carlisle forward would make such great copy. Agreement was reached on the spot. (read review)

On one level, this work is academic in its coverage - providing cross references, details of source material and a comprehensive index. On another, Bower peppers the text with a series of one liners which are testament to his descriptive talent... (read review)

Readers who recognise what has happened to our national game, now awash with players who are unqualified to play for the national side, will appreciate Richard Havers' "When Football Was Football" (read review)

As both Ally McCoist and Mark Wright point out in their respective forewords to the Tin Man, based upon first appearances, no-one would have imagined that Ted McMinn was, or could be, a professional footballer... (read review)

In recent years, only a handful of ghosted autobiographies stand out - Sir Bobby Charlton and Jamie Carragher's being two of the most memorable, but now this exalted pair are joined by a man who made his debut far back in 1954/55.
(read review)

Fabio Capello has been at the England helm for less than ten months, yet already fans sense that at last, they have someone appropriately qualified to turn a talented bunch of under-achievers into world beaters.... (read review)

Carragher's performance a certain balmy night in Istanbul has become part of Anfield folklore and while Liverpool's improbable success has been deemed 'sport's greatest-ever comeback', Carra is not a belated attempt to re-live an outrageously famous victory in print... (read review)

Roberts is a genuine football fan and this marvellous memoir is a must read, not just for those who ignore the top flight siren calls to follow their local club, but also for fans who might just be getting a little tired of the Premier League's achingly dull repepetitveness... (read review)

Anyone searching for football's true heart should give its highest echelons the widest possible body swerve and lunge for McVay's excellent book with the unfettered determination of an old fashioned defender executing a sliding tackle with intent...
(read review)

Montague instinctively knows that, in much the same way as you might anywhere else in the world, once you engage the locals in conversation about football, their passion and commitment to the sport can supersede all else. He is enlightened enough to appreciate that football is not a panacea, but he should send a copy of this thought-provoking book to FIFA. Instead of focusing on in-fighting and empire-building, FIFA could do some good in the Middle East were they to absorb several of Montague's ideas... (read review)

There is a mountain of unsubstantiated information available online and given that many of us increasingly use computers in our everyday work, employing them again during our leisure time can sometimes be a chore. Readers with more than a handful of grey hairs will understand what I mean. Thankfully, browsing through record books remains a perfectly acceptable pursuit... (read review)

During the recent Euro 2008 tournament, Russian footballers were described as 'world beaters who don't perform too well when they need to use their passports', a line which perhaps sums up the country's insular attitude towards the round ball game... (read review)

This is not a book solely for Liverpool supporters; anyone who worries that football clubs have become highly-prized assets should read it and realise that that is not an inevitable state of affairs... (read review)

Okwonga is a dedicated football fan (and a lawyer to boot) who can claim to have produced a rarity: an intelligent football book. His regular references to a multitude of great footballing moments proves he is also extremely well informed - a guy who would perform well on your pub quiz team, although he is clearly a well-rounded character who can appreciate football's many absurdities. (read review)

It's a sad tale, laced with a number of authentic side-swipes at footballing sycophants and other hangers-on as seen by someone who could justifiably be called the 'original footballer's wife'. But don't let that put you off reading it... (read review)

The Rivals Game is packed with some great anecdotes and chants, not all of which are repeatable here, although they add to sense that this book has touched upon something embedded within the football fan's DNA... (read review)

It might seem a tad morbid, assembling a book which deals solely with dead footballers, but... Ivan Ponting's excellent collection is akin to celebrating footballer's lives with a minute's clapping rather than with a minute's silence. And what great lives there are to recall and how well Ponting tells their tale... (read review)

Let's face it: the Premiership isn't any more exciting than the old First Division and while players might be fitter, but they're no more skilful, yet the marketing myth, which prompts us to accept that what we're watching is outstanding, persists... (read review)

Fifties Manchester was a great industrial city, proud of its two football teams. The arrival of Matt Busby as manager had transformed the better-supported of the two, United, into an irresistible attacking force and their European adventure was the next logical step for a side that swept to the league title in 1955/56 and 1956/57. Not until Sir Alex Ferguson had completed a decade at Old Trafford were United capable of playing the same brand of football as the Babes. (read review)

Menary employs a light touch when writing which provides his narrative with an easy pace. Most of his engaging theory is built around an attack on football's jobsworths, vote-seekers, politicos and hangers-on and as a method of exercising the sports fan's mind, Outcasts is as good as it gets... (read review)

Before the end of the first chapter, we've learnt that Deano washes his face three times before taking the pitch. 'Oh no,' you think, 'this is the bog-standard footballer's tale', but within a few pages, matters have improved markedly... (read review)

Midwinter's perfectly paced prelude attempts to unearth football's modest beginnings and, like the search for the source of one of the world's great rivers, there is some dispute about precisely where the game kicked off... (read review)

Peter Crouch remains an enigma. He couldn't be described as brilliant, but still manages to find himself in the right place at the right time, the hallmark of football's greatest goalscorers. He shuns celebrity, although he talks openly about his infamous robot dance, he's an on-field worker, but one who couldn't be mentioned in the same breath as Dirk Kuyt... (read review)

Those of us who recall how research was conducted before the internet's arrival will almost certainly feel there is no substitute for browsing through a book. While an online search can develop into an often frustrating scamper through a thick maze of ether, dipping into a voluminous reference book can become a hugely enjoyable meander... (read review)

Like almost every boy his age, Charlton grew up besotted by football. Playing the game for as long as parents would allow was the norm in the Northumberland mining village of Ashington, as it was everywhere else across Britain up until the mid-seventies. Games involving almost every boy in the street were not unusual, but even among these unwieldy matches, it soon became apparent that young Bobby, together with his older brother Jack, were endowed with a rare talent... (read review)

Unlike Elleray and Winter, other referees who have gone into print, Graham Poll manages to inject an easy humour into his narrative, which ensures that by the time he describes what happened at last year's World Cup when he completed his notorious three-card trick, the reader empathises with him. With hindsight, it is the one action for which Poll will remain famous, or infamous, depending upon your view... (read review)

Having approached this autobiography with some trepidation, sensing it came from the "former footballer cashes in on waning fame by publishing book" category, I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised... (read review)

As a player, Vialli was a flamboyant, charismatic winger. As a writer, he comes across as both intelligent and inquisitive, and with the aid of Times columnist Marcotti, formulates a valid critique of the differing approaches found here and Italy... (read review)

Brazil's delivery has been likened to listening to your best mate: he often makes you wonder whether you were actually there, but were so out of it that you can't remember. It's a skill which belies an enormous amount of hard work. (read review)

It's entirely fair to say that Hamilton was one of the few people Clough trusted; indeed, the reader might be left with the impression that this book's content could have comfortably exceeded 250-odd pages... (read review)

Published in Spain last year and translated by Malcolm Marsh, the book's layout makes it an easy read, ideal for a journey, and, not surprisingly, for readers interested in Spanish football.
In truth, however, Lloret reveals little of Benitez's personality, but as a close friend, he manages to tell the reader much of what has shaped the man's career... (read review)

As Derbyshire muses, it would be foolish to underestimate such a single-minded character who has already been crowned European Footballer of the Year, was the youngest player to represent England in the twentieth century, the only England player ever to score in four major tournaments and the youngest recipient of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award... (read review)

Andrew Sleight scores by making this biography a chatty affair; he has clearly researched his subject in depth, but there are several incidents in Robbie Keane's life that make for compelling reading... (read review)

Pete Tomsett and Chris Brand have produced an account of Wembley which may be politely described as 'history lite'. Readers may wonder whether there really is any need for 26 pages of photographs of cranes and JCB's, first demolishing the old stadium and then rebuilding the new. Probably not in a book running to 160 pages. This is a pity because what precedes this liberal use of construction site photography is actually quite good... (read review)

With the world, quite literally, at this young man's feet, it rapidly became evident that, while he would make a handsome living from playing football (which he subsequently did), he didn't quite have quite enough to make it at the highest level....
(read review)

Phil Whalley, a long-term fan of the club, has produced what can only be described as the definitive history of football in Accrington, aptly sub-titled, "The club that wouldn't die". For this is a story of a small group of individuals who refused to let the name of Accrington Stanley disappear, re-building a club, a ground and a tradition from scratch until on Saturday, April 15th, 2006 they achieved their dream when they won promotion back to the Football League... (read review)

It's not the most novel format in the world, but sometimes simple is beautiful and there can be no simpler idea than bringing together a dozen or so of the greatest players in a club's history and asking them to nominate and discuss in detail their favourite games... (read review)

Thankfully, there is more laughter than despair in Neil Redfearn's tale, but if anyone needed a reminder of how far football has progressed in the last two decades, they need only read the account of his move from Joe Royle's Oldham... (read review)

In many ways, Believe in the Sign is a personal account which reads more like a novel than Hodkinson's previous work. It's a homage as much to his home town as the football club and to a pre-Thatcher Britain of decaying industry and a sport on the cusp of being over-run by hooligans. It is a lost world, largely unloved and forgotten, but laced with poignant and humorous childhood memories... (read review)

As a nurse in the freezing winter of 1947 Margaret Hollinrake was offered a lift on the Burnley football team coach whilst waiting for a bus in Manchester. She caught the eye of the star player of that Burnley team, Harry Potts, and within a year they were married. Margaret Hollinrake had become a footballer's wife... (read review)

Nobody could accuse Docherty of having a life that lacked colour. He had an austere but loving upbringing, a period in the army of real tragedy that shaped him as a leader and then, as a player and manager, "more clubs than Jack Nicklaus" as he often repeats in his successful post-football role as an after dinner speaker. Docherty has cut a swathe through life that few others can match... (read review)

"It is better to be a champion sport than a sports' champion." This wonderful aphorism was uttered by a man who starred for two of the world's greatest football clubs and who accomplished the unique achievement of gaining cup winners' medals in three different countries over three different decades... (read review)

Arsenal fans have apparently begun a campaign to make sure this wonderfully funny book sells more than Ashley Cole's humourless and self-justifying autobiography 'My Defence'. If there is any justice in the world, it would be no contest... (read review)

A book which forsakes an academic approach in favour of a more humorous style. Although the attempts at humour, which tend to involve creating stereotypes and caricatures, grate at times, French's style is breezy and his conclusions, based on his extensive interviews, are both pertinent and interesting... (read review)

Undoubtedly, Cole appreciates what is expected of him on the football pitch; this is what makes him such an outstanding player at club and international level. What Ian Macleay's book constantly reveals, however, is the pressure under which he and others like him live when they are away from sport...
(read review)

Given footballers' poor public image, it is encouraging to read such a heart-warming story. Goater has received an MBE for his services to football in Bermuda and the island has a day named in his honour. Hugely likeable, witty and erudite, Goater is an example of a true gentleman footballer from whom some of our more exalted stars could learn some valuable lessons. They should 'Read the Goat'... (read review)

No-one had heard of the Cosmos, which had been acquired by Warner Brothers in 1971. Within four years, however, the club had signed a three-year deal with Pele, the greatest player the game had ever known. More big name signings followed: German superstar Franz Beckenbauer, Italian striker Giorgio Chinaglia and Brazil's World Cup winning captain, Carlos Alberto. Overnight, the Cosmos became New York's hottest ticket... (read review)

Although the World Cup ended less than six weeks ago, the rumbling, often predictable, energy-infused, over-hyped juggernaut that is England's Premiership returns this weekend, accompanied by a raft of football-related books... (read review)

Nowhere have vast quantities of money had such a corrupting influence than in the world of football. It's for this reason that Peter Morfoot's Burksey is a book that works on two levels. First, it is very, very funny, but it also parodies the game so effectively, that it makes the reader appreciate just how arrogant and bumptious some of its participants really are... (read review)

This book offers not a traditional biographical picture of Wayne Rooney, but a snapshot of his life through the eyes of an well-known and experienced journalist. Parry writes with zest, enthusiasm and obvious delight about the 20-year-old... (read review)

The Pele story has been told many times by different authors of varying literary ability, but this autobiography is almost certainly the definitive tale of a man who, apart from being the world's greatest footballer, has also been a politician and sporting ambassador. For that reason alone, it is worth reading.. (read review)

Williams concerns himself not with his favourite team or even a hybrid collection of his favoured XI, but with the "dreamers, schemers, playmakers and playboys" who have worn the number 10 shirt with such distinction... (read review)

Given football's incredible global popularity, publishers are understandably keen to ensure their World Cup titles are on the shelves as near to the end of the domestic season as possible, thus providing supporters with enough background, history, facts and figures to satisfy the most avid 'statto'. Fans who can absorb it all will make John Motson sound under-prepared... (read review)

Famously 3-0 down to AC Milan at half time [in the Champions League final], it was Steven Gerrard who headed home Liverpool's first goal in the 54th minute. As he raced back to the halfway line, he spread his arms wide, geeing the crowd and his team-mates with a gesture which demanded a response. "Come on, we can do this!" Gerrard's gesture declared... (read review)

Of course, this story has been told before, but the principal argument behind Jeff Connor's thought-provoking book is that while the club re-ignited its understandable quest for glory soon after those sombre days of 1958, the families of Munich's victims were forgotten...
(read review)

Winter has written an occasionally compelling book - the tale of his rise through the ranks is one of determination, after having happened upon the very idea of refereeing almost by mistake. Here was the archetypal terrace hard knock, a Middlesbrough boot boy intent on causing trouble who became instead a figure of authority... (read review)

Stant not only appreciates how lucky he has been, but he is honest enough to recount the thrill of meeting Kenny Dalglish in the corridor at Anfield, of playing up front with Kerry Dixon and of scoring his debut goal for Reading. But Stant's life before his conversion to professional football provides an absolutely compelling foundation to this book... (read review)

It was important that readers knew Chelsea have only become a 'big club' in the last few years and while Glanvill frequently refers to the so-called 'glamour' side of the 1970s, in fairness, he doesn't shy away from the facts... (read review)

Doug Ellis, who has been at the helm at Aston Villa since 1968, has witnessed a period of colossal change first-hand, although it came as a surprise to learn that he had previously been a director at Birmingham City for three years...
Ellis is the archetypal self-made man, a travel agent who built an enormously successful business while retaining a passion for football - he alternated between visiting Villa Park and St Andrews each Saturday afternoon when he finished work, but eventually ended up as chairman at what was a run-down Aston Villa. (read review)

Its 1042 pages are split into three sections, the first of which deals with every FIFA tournament, from the forthcoming World Cup to the 2005 World Youth Championship. The latter was won by Argentina in Utrecht last July with two goals from Lionel Messi, the young footballing prodigy Barcelona signed as a 13-year-old. As you can see, the book's information soon sticks... (read review)

When Willie Irvine was persuaded to write his autobiography by Dave Thomas, a Burnley fanatic who has gained a reputation for his witty and erudite chronicling of the club and the town, I suspect he did not realise what a cathartic and exhilarating exercise it would be. The two have produced an astonishing and outstanding tale of a footballer who not only reached the highest of highs, but also plummeted to the lowest of lows... (read review)

Sunday morning football has always known its place at the very bottom of the footballing apex, although it does provide a final run-out for blokes who are more than a little overweight and who cannot recover from niggling injuries as rapidly as they used to. Still, it's cheaper than buying a ridiculously flash car or, the absolute nadir when it comes to efforts to recapture lost youth, an ill-fitting wig... (read review)

Jones was one of the first high-profile footballers to display his club affinity by means of a tattoo, having the initials LFC inscribed onto his forearm; thousands copied him. There are dozens of players who have since professed to show their unstinting love of a football club in similar fashion, but what separated Jones from the current batch of lavishly-patterned foreign mercenaries is that he could have taken his place on the Kop and no-one would have batted an eyelid... (read review)

Douglas Thompson's biography, the first, no doubt of many we can expect over the next few years, is at pains to stress that life has not been a bed of roses for young Frank ever since he joined West Ham as a trainee in 1992. He had to contend, initially at least, with the inevitable cries of nepotism and favouritism, but these envious taunts were ultimately to become important factors which drove him on to play 132 times for the Hammers... (read review)

Oh no! Not another book about Diego Maradona, this time about the seven incident-packed years he spent at Naples, during which he led them to the Serie A title? Ho, hum, you might think, as I did before embarking on the first chapter, but I was soon engrossed... (read review)

So often, an ex-footballer's tale follows the same tired path, laced with stories of excesses, boyish pranks and dolly birds. Yet George Cohen has faced much greater challenges away from the football pitch than he ever encountered on it; this alone makes his inspirational autobiography... (read review)

The list of characters Connor has to work with, from Alex Forsyth, the club's oldest director and line-dance lover ("he likes his partners about six feet tall so he can stick his nose in their tits"), to manager Dennis Newall, whose rantings can occasionally make Sir Alex Ferguson sound like Mary Poppins, are as far removed from the pampered world of top-flight football as it is possible to be... (read review)

Jack Rollin, the yearbook's sole editor for decades, drafted his daughter Glenda in several years ago and the duo have once more produced the definitive guide to everything that has happened on or off the football pitch during the past twelve months. Not one of the 1056 pages is wasted, with every conceivable piece of statistical information, from the Champions League to details of the Eagle Bitter United Counties Division One included in a clear, readable format... (read review)

In the book's acknowledgements, Harry Harris thanks his publisher, John Blake, for having faith in the author's prediction that Chelsea would be crowned champions. This ensures that Harris covered every kick and every goal of the 2004/05 campaign, from the opening game of the season against Manchester United, to Chelsea's only league defeat (1-0) against Manchester City and onto the away match against Bolton which confirmed their championship status... (read review)

Not since Ryan Giggs was at his peak in an all-conquering Manchester United side six years ago has a footballer managed to be mentioned in the same sentence as such exalted company. Yet today, there is one Premiership star (and for once the description is accurate) who combines skill, athleticism and perhaps most important of all, that indescribable ability to excite the spectator... (read review)

The period covered by this book is quite condensed, focusing on Mourinho's career as a coach; it actually ends at the point where he becomes Chelsea manager, but it gives a fascinating insight into his coaching beliefs which help explain why he has been so successful... (read review)

After reading this book, one is left with two distinct impressions: first that writing it was a true labour of love and second, that the author probably would have written it for nothing. That it is currently zooming up the sporting best seller charts tells its own tale, testimony to the clear affinity Taylor has with his chosen subject; nor do you have to be a Nottingham Forest fan to enjoy it... (read review)

If anyone has ever accused you of still (if you're over 25) or currently (if you're at school or university) getting a kick from schoolboy humour, you will love this book. It's one into which you will regularly dip and, following another ten minute bout of laughter, put it aside and walk around for the rest of the day with a recurring tune playing inside your head... (read review)

When it comes to iconic images, it's difficult to surpass the one of Billy McNeill holding the European Cup aloft on a magical night in Portugal nearly forty years ago. There is no smile playing on the Celtic captain's lips, no obvious euphoria; instead, the muscular McNeill simply lifts the trophy skywards in a manner which shouts, 'There! We've done it.'... (read review)

Roman Abramovich's story is one of political intrigue, ruthlessness and opportunism; as such, it falls into the 'truth is stranger than fiction' category, comfortably surpassing (in terms of both plot and writing) anything that could be served up in a fictional thriller... (read review)

Collymore has not simply sat back as his autobiography was being written hoping it would sell on the strength of his name or reputation - he has clearly been involved. His voice is apparent throughout this well-crafted book which is a good thing because he has plenty to reveal about himself... (read review)

If a life can have just one defining moment, a clearly identifiable point at which absolutely everything changes, that night in St Etienne was it for young Michael when he scored one of the most amazing goals this writer has ever seen. As he progressed at pace, ball at feet, from the half way line, viewers instinctively drew closer to the television screen: "He's not going to score, is he? He is. He's gone round the last defender. Get out of the way, Scholes! Bang! My God, he's done it! The young boy has scored!"... (read review)

Ball's description of Beckham's impact in La Liga and upon Spanish football is first class, starting with his opening game when the Englishman found the net after just 126 seconds, one of only three league goals he scored all season...
Furthermore, Ball introduces the reader to the notion of 'fast food football', a phrase he acknowledges was first used by Santiago Segurola, Spain's most influential football writer. It defines the process whereby stars such as Beckham, Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo have been signed to satisfy the heightened expectations of fans or, to put it more accurately, to "cater for impatient consumerism of the younger football cliente." The phrase is equally appropriate when used to describe Real's most recent acquisitions... (read review)

Across the land at ten to six each Saturday as traffic lights turn red and the car lurches to a halt, people can be heard asking, "Who scored Bristol City's first league goal of last season?" (Lee Peacock in the 12th minute of the opening game against Notts County) or "Which Premiership referee showed more yellow cards than any other last term?" (Alan Wiley - 82). Football fans are expected to know these sort of things which is where the ubiquitous football yearbooks come into their own... (read review)

Towards the end of this book, Paul Gascoigne is asked, "Of today's younger players, who do you admire?" to which he replies, "Beckham, of course, not just for his football but how he has handled the media and his commercial work. I buggered up all that." It's a comment which ultimately the reader may feel is better suited to an appearance nearer the beginning as it effectively sets the tone for the whole 370 pages... (read review)

Jimmy Stirling is the (only slightly) fictional sports journo in The Man Who Hated Football, an immensely funny book which has already been compared with Evelyn Waugh's journalistic satire, Scoop. The obvious difference between the two is whereas Waugh used the subtlest rapier-like blade to extract humour, Buckley brandishes a machete... (read review)

Throughout the book, two particular aspects of the narrative combine to make the experience of the travelling fan appropriately realistic. First, the language, even in the author's asides, could, at all times, be considered industrial and second, when Blatt celebrates a goal, even on the page of the book, he sounds like one of those crazy Brazilian commentators who prolong their pronunciation of the word 'goal' as if to extend the joy of the ball hitting the back of the net: Ggggoooooooaaaaaaaallllll!!!! (read review)

A book about the youth teams of Manchester United and Manchester City who clashed in a two-legged FA Youth Cup semi-final in 1964. That might not sound like the basis of a solid, book-worthy idea until the reader considers what happened next. Of the 22 players on show, including one George Best, playing his fourth game in a week (in the second leg) and about to make his international debut for Northern Ireland, 17 of them went on to play for their respective first teams. (read review)

Mick Quinn was as far removed from the modern day, calorie-controlled footballer you could imagine. He probably thought pasta was what you did when you walked by a girl, not as though big Mick walked past many, nor could he be relied upon to give a body swerve to a bar... (read review)

Unusually for a footballer's autobiography, Law pulls no punches when it comes to opinions relating to managers and players and for this, it is a superior read to many of a similar genre... (read review)

The appropriateness of the comments made on the inside dust cover of this book are uncanny. John Charles' remarkable story, it says, "should be required reading for every millionaire footballer", an observation with which it is difficult to disagree... (read review)

Scoring, the title of McAvennie's autobiography, is the ultimate double entendre and Frank, as the book suggests, is something of an expert on the topic and we're not always talking about the ball hitting the back of the net. This is a pity because the most compelling parts of the book are when McAvennie concentrates on football rather than girls... (read review)

Nobby Stiles is one of those famous ex-footballers whose image has the distinction of being timeless. If he were playing today, no doubt his management advisers could market the Stiles 'brand', but it would be difficult to see him in a sarong. (read review)

It is little wonder that Foul Play is a contender for sports book of the year. The style and pace of the narrative allow it to read like a gripping novel as Thomas leads us through what is a tale of greed on an unbelievable scale... (read review)